Bar stars: Legendary veterans from behind the slab

Ed Moose at his restaurant bar at Moose's.
on 1/21/08 in San Francisco.
photo by Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Ed Moose at his restaurant bar at Moose's.
on 1/21/08 in San Francisco.
photo by Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle

Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle

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Ed Moose at his restaurant bar at Moose's.
on 1/21/08 in San Francisco.
photo by Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Ed Moose at his restaurant bar at Moose's.
on 1/21/08 in San Francisco.
photo by Craig Lee / The Chronicle

Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle

Bar stars: Legendary veterans from behind the slab

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Your mom told you never to forget to say goodbye and thank you when you leave someone's house after a meal.

Ed Moose told all the bartenders he hired during his long career as a North Beach publican never to forget to say good night and thanks when patrons head out into the night. "It's a pity, but nowadays, hardly anybody does that anymore," says the former owner and operator of Moose's and before that the original Washington Square Bar & Grill.

None of the seasoned practitioners question the skill level of many of their younger colleagues. Where in decades past, only the best used fresh ingredients instead of premade mixers, the fresh and seasonal mantra now almost universally extends to the bar.

But a top-notch bartender has to be able to read the customer, says Richard "Rocco" Coppolo, a Bay Area barman since the '70s, who now works at Casa Orinda. Karl Strandfeldt, a bar trainer for seafood chain McCormick & Schmick, agrees - "a sense of people" is the most essential talent for a bartender.

A good memory comes in handy, too, all the old masters of the bar believe. Few things make a customer more comfortable than finding that the bartender remembers the guest's name and favorite drink, even if he or she is not a regular.

Tyrone "Ty" Saunders, who has been behind the bar at the Big Four in the Huntington Hotel atop Nob Hill for 15 years, redefines the concept of the regular. There are, he says, many neighborhood residents who stop by the elegant bar several times a week, but there are also out-of-towners who stay at the hotel often and delight in being recognized.

Saunders sees the role of the bartender as a facilitator. "It's all about people," he says, adding that the bartender's interest has to be genuine: "You can't fake it."

While some of the more courtly customs of decades past may have become rare, most longtime bartenders agree their public has definitely become more discriminating. Gone are the days when bar customers would just ask for a gin martini up or a Scotch and water. Now customers request specific brands, which tend to be expensive. Similarly, fresh ingredients trump the bottled mixes that were once customary.

Traditional cocktail ingredients like citrus juices and rind have been joined by a bewildering array of fruit purees, spices and herbs, sometimes almost blurring the distinction between creators of food and drinks.

Many younger bartenders like it when they are called mixologists. Their older confreres have mixed reactions' with some feeling that it emphasizes technique over all other qualifications.

Rocco Coppolo in Orinda scoffs at the mixologist label. "Some of these guys are just like talented mechanics," he says of some of the younger practitioners of the craft. "They have forgotten what it means to be a bartender."

John Burton, owner and instructor of the Bartenders' School of Santa Rosa, on the other hand, doesn't see much wrong with the term, pointing out that it's not such a newfangled invention: It appears in a text from the 1860s. He does regret, however, that some of the up-and-comers of the profession lack a sense of history.

Burton (not to be confused with the volatile politician of the same name) is philosophical about the changes in the new guard's attitude: "The past is history," he says with a laugh. "We have to go with change."

Still, says Moose, it is not an easy way to make a living. The hours can be brutal, and even guys, he adds with his typical hearty laugh, find it hard on family life and personal relationships. "They get tired of coming home at 3 a.m. with lipstick on their collar, whether they wanted it or not."

Where to find the old masters

Though Ed Moose, Karl Strandfeldt and John Burton no longer tend bar, two of the old masters can still be found behind the slab.